Most FAL bayonets conform to three basic types: the Type A, Type B, and Type C, designed by FN in Belgium and the L1 Series designed in Britain. This page is by no means exhaustive, but covers some of the more common types encountered today. This page provides a type-specific approach for identifying FAL bayonets, as an alternative to the country-specific index.

Many countries manufactured the FAL under license and produced bayonets. It became known by FN's clever Cold War advertising slogan as 'the free world's right arm.' The FAL saw widespread combat service in no less than 14 wars. The FAL has been used by more than 50 countries and remains in use today, some 50 years after it's introduction. The FAL was capable of tremendous accuracy out to very long ranges.

Saive succeeded brilliantly, creating the assault rifle by which all others were measured for decades. The FAL was an attempt to marry the old world craftsmanship of the SAFN 1949, with the groundbreaking German Sturmgewehr (assault rifle) concept introduced during the Second World War. Prior to designing the FAL, Saive designed what many view as the last elegant old world military rifle, the rifle which bears his name, the Saive Automatique Fabrique Nationale (SAFN) Modèle 1949 self-loading rifle. Designed by Dieudonné Saive, the legendary Belgian small arms designer who was the successor to John Browning as FN's chief firearms designer following Browning's death in 1926 (if you ever wondered how FN became the world's most successful firearms manufacturer, it's as simple as Browning and Saive). NATO caliber Fabrique Nationale de Herstal - Fusil Automatique Leger (Light Automatic Rifle), or FN-FAL was produced by FN beginning in 1953.

Fn fal grenade launcher